UNESCO's World Heritage Committee has deferred a decision to place the Great Barrier Reef on its "World Heritage in Danger" list.

The World Heritage Committee, currently meeting for its annual session in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh, has been tasked with determining if the Great Barrier Reef is in trouble.

UNESCO raised concerns about the level of development along the Queensland coast and its impact on the World Heritage site, including water quality and the loss of coral.

The committee was considering whether to adopt UNESCOs recommendations to stop new approvals for port developments along the Queensland coast.

Kimberley Dripps from the federal Environment Department told the hearing that progress was being made to address their concerns and stated that Australia was committed to protecting the site.

The Queensland Government has representatives in Phnom Penh as well.

Premier Campbell Newman denies his Government is doing little to protect the World Heritage site.

"Au contraire - that's exactly what we are doing," he said.

"The former government believed in people just being able to draw a line on a map and saying we're going to set up a new port somewhere on the Queensland coast. We've made it very, very clear that we've stopped that.

"We also have wound back the crazy plans at Abbott Point up north of Bowen, and we will be making that case."

The committee agreed to adopt a draft decision to defer the matter until the next UNESCO meeting in 2014.

The dredging involved with port development and increased shipping through the reef have sparked widespread concern among conservationists.

Louise Mathieson from Greenpeace says the decision gives the state and federal governments a chance to wind back port developments and improve the quality of the reef.

"We want to see both sides of politics acting to stop the industrial port developments along the Great Barrier Reef coast," she said.

"By giving Australia another year to act, the world community is really giving the next prime minister another chance to do better than what this Government has done."

Felicity Wishart from the Australian Marine Conservation Society is calling on the State Government to make its conservation plans for the reef public.

"The Government did commit to what's called a strategic assessment, which is sort of like a grand plan for looking at managing the reef and all the different impacts," she said.

"The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority has done a lot of work that we're aware of with good consultation with the community for their part of that plan, which is the marine component.

"The Queensland Government is responsible for the coastal side of that plan, and we've seen less information and less consultation on that.

"The whole report was due out in March - it's still not out, we don't know where it's at. So the first thing we need to see is that put on the table."

Meanwhile, the UNESCO committee has decided to remove Iran's ancient Bam citadel from the danger list.

The citadel was almost completely destroyed by a major earthquake in 2003.

The "remains of the desert citadel, which reached its apogee from the 7th to 11th centuries, had been sufficiently stabilised and its management was sound enough for the site to be declared safe," UNESCO said in a statement.